To reach their full potential, children need high-quality health care and services—especially in life’s early years. Health promotion, safety, disease prevention, and early identification and treatment during these earliest years lay the foundation for healthy development.
Mounting evidence that health during childhood sets the stage for adult health creates an important ethical, social, and economic imperative to ensure that all children are as healthy as they can be. Healthy children are more likely to become healthy adults. FPG's scientists study many aspects of child health and development—from prenatal health to infant brain development to stress management in adolescents.
Featured Project
FPG Faculty Fellow Iheoma Iruka is working in collaboration with Mathematica-MPR on a project seeking to understand the landscape of program structures and supports for mental and behavioral health in Early Head Start/Head Start for children, families, and staff.
Featured Publication
Several influential studies reported sex differences in early care and education (ECE) treatment on young adult IQ and academic outcomes. A recent paper extends that work by asking whether sex differences in impacts of the Carolina Abecedarian Project emerged during the treatment period or subsequently and whether sex differences were maintained into middle adulthood.
Featured Research Project
Funded by the University of California at Berkley, FPG Faculty Fellow Iheoma Iruka is principal investigator of a project that will provide unconditional, monthly income supplements during pregnancy and postpartum to randomly selected participants, with the goal of curbing financial stress and promoting healthy pregnancy outcomes. The goal of this project is to evaluate the impact of this guaranteed income program on birthing outcomes, maternal and child health, and children’s early outcomes.
